On "Consent"

"It was given by tribes which had just been broken in wars, it was given by peoples who had been threatened or cajoled into signing, or misled about what they were agreeing to. It was often consent granted by a minority of the tribe's leaders who had been subverted or liquored up; the Commissioners were never squeamish about hailing the voice of the few as the voice of all if that was the best that could be had. So, when the Indians gave up their land by their own consent, they were usually consenting with a knee in their groin. - from The Long Death: The Last Days of the Plains Indian, NY: Collier Books, 1969